Bedtime Stories
by Darling Pretty
Summary: When her latest charges demand a bedtime story, Mary tells one that is truer than she'd like. Mary/Bert.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this story came from reading LoveBroadway1510's story A Perfect Story (seriously, go read it) late at night. (I really need to stop that. It makes me stay up too late.) So I don't want you to think that this is only my creativity at work here. I'm actually hard at work on a second chapter, so expect that some time soon!**

**As always, I own nothing.**

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><p>"Alright," Mary announces, clapping her hands together. "That will be quite enough of <em>that<em>, thank you very much!"

The two girls immediately stop jumping on their twin beds. "Oh, Mary Poppins!" the older one exclaims, "We couldn't possibly sleep now! Too many wonderful things have happened today!"

Today, Mary had worked with the girls on their history homework. Lessons are always learned well and quickly with Mary Poppins as a teacher.

Normally, lessons weren't exactly Mary's domain, but she has been with the family far longer than she normally is with any family. The sad truth is that she doesn't want to leave. The girl's mother had run off right after the youngest's third birthday and is rarely, if ever, heard from. They're being raised by their father, but Mary knows he's feeling overwhelmed.

"Is that so? Suit yourselves. But do hop down from there immediately before someone gets hurt."

Both girls scramble to do as they're told. "Tell us a bedtime story!" the youngest—Hattie, a precocious five-year-old with a gapped-tooth smile—demands.

"Oh yes!" her older sister, Isa- definitely not Isabelle- agrees.

"Certainly not," Mary sniffs. "I do not follow orders from young girls who aren't in bed."

Isa pulls the covers back on her bed and Hattie follows suit. "If we get in bed," Isa negotiates, "Will you _please _tell us a story?"

Mary tucks Hattie in snugly. "I'm afraid I don't know any bedtime stories," she apologizes.

"That's okay!" Hattie exclaims. "You can make one up!"

Mary sighs and moves to sit in the armchair. "Oh, very well," she agrees.

There's a knock at the door. "Come in!" Mary calls.

The door swings open to reveal Isa and Hattie's oldest sister. "Charlotte," Mary greets her, careful not to use the diminutive Lottie since the eleven-year-old has decided she hates it.

"Father just called to say he's running a little late," Charlotte explains. Mary has to smile—in her quest to be grown-up, much to her father's chagrin, Charlotte has taken to calling her father "Father" and her sisters by their full names.

"Mary Poppins is telling us a bedtime story!" Hattie informs her happily. "There's going to be a prince!"

Mary fixes her with a stare. "And who said anything about a prince, may I ask?"

"All good bedtime stories have a prince!" Isa insists.

"_Everybody _knows that!" Hattie continues.

Mary looks to Charlotte for reinforcements but she just shrugs sheepishly. "It really is true."

Mary knows when she's beat. "Well, if I must, I suppose I must. We'll start with a man—I suppose he is a prince in his own right."

"Is he charming?" Hattie asks.

"Of course he is!" Isa cries. "All princes are charming!"

Mary smiles. "He was, indeed, quite charming."

"What did he look like?" Isa asks.

Immediately a picture forms in Mary's mind. "Well, he had brown hair. And no matter how he tried, he could never seem to get to lay perfectly flat or to stay in place. Even when he was meeting with very important people, his hair was always a mess," Mary describes, a soft smile playing on her lips.

"Did he meet very many important people?" Isa questions.

"Oh yes. Even maharajas and kings bowed to him!"

"Why?" Hattie pipes up.

"Well, he was quite kind. You could see it in the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled. And kindness will get you everywhere in the world. So even though he was only a prince, kings treated him as an equal."

"So where's the princess?" Charlotte asks, crossing her arms as she hovers in the doorway.

Mary glances at her. "Who said anything about a princess?"

"Every prince has a princess! That's how stories work."

"In this story, the princess doesn't arrive until later. This story isn't about the princess."

"Well, then who does the prince talk to?" Charlotte asks, miffed that her suggestion wasn't taken immediately.

"Perhaps if you three would let me tell the story, you would find out!" Mary chides gently.

Charlotte flounces out of the room but Isa and Hattie settle in. "We'll be quiet," Isa promises. "Lottie just likes to be difficult."

"We'll start with a castle, long ago," Mary narrates. "That is where the prince lived. He had everything he could possibly ever want, but he was lonely. You see, no one would ever challenge him. He was so universally liked that no one ever wanted to upset him.

"Often, the prince would go walking around his grounds alone. One day, he was admiring the clouds in the sky when he bumped into a woman who was walking and reading a novel. Without looking up, she berated him for not looking where he was going. He quickly pointed out that she was the one with her nose stuck in a book and wondered what could possibly be so interesting. When she looked up, he was prepared for her to start bowing and scraping, but that's exactly what she didn't do."

"Why?" Hattie asks.

"Well, you see, she wasn't just any lady. She had a touch of magic about her."

"An enchantress!" Isa breathes, looking proud of herself for knowing such a long word.

Mary laughs. "Alright, she was an enchantress."

"So what happened?" Hattie wants to know.

"She offered to read the book to him."

"Was she pretty?" Isa inquires.

Mary smiles. "Oh, I like to think so."

"She looked like you!" Hattie decides. Both Mary and Isa stare at her. "What? Mary Poppins is _very _pretty!"

"Alright," Mary assents. "She looked like I do."

"They're going to fall in love, aren't they?" Isa says.

"Wait and see!" Mary chuckles.

"Then tell!" both girls cry.

"Every day, they would meet under a beautiful oak tree and read to each other," Mary continues. "The prince would reenact scenes from the story and they would laugh. The enchantress had never laughed so hard or so much in her entire life. Every day, they'd meet and every day, they'd spend less time reading and more time talking. Oh, they _were _a pair! He balanced her perfectly. You see, when dealing with magic, you must be quite concerned with perfection, but he made her forget all of that for a few minutes. She brought out the best in him—at least she thought she did—she challenged him a way that no one else could or would."

"They fell in love?" Isa butts in.

"And slowly, surely," Mary smiles, "they fell in love."

"I knew it!"

"Did they kiss?" asks Hattie.

Mary laughs. "They did."

"True love's kiss!" Isa applauds.

"Something like that."

"So what happened?" Hattie tries to steer back to the story.

"They became inseparable. Where one went, the other would follow. If they were separated for any reason, they could always find each other again. Many of the prince's subjects suspected that he would propose. But somehow, for all her magic, the enchantress had no idea. She knew the prince loved her, but the thought of marriage never entered her head."

"Were they happy?" Isa yawns.

Mary smiles softly—a nostalgic, melancholy smile. "Blissfully so."

"And they loved each other?" Hattie continues, her eyes losing the battle to stay open.

"Very much so."

"Did they live happily ever after?" Isa drowsily inquires.

Mary gets up and tucks both girls in. "In their way," she assures them.

"Good. That's good."

Mary clicks out the light and closes the door, allowing herself one last glance at the now sleeping girls.

"So what happened?"

Mary nearly jumps out of her skin at the urgent question. "I beg your pardon?" she asks shakily.

"Between the enchantress and the prince!" Charlotte exclaims from her spot on the floor next to the door. "You didn't finish the story!"

"I said they lived happily ever after."

"No, you said they lived happily ever after _in their way_. That's not the same thing at all! And you said there was a princess. What happened? Did the prince propose to the enchantress?"

Mary sighs. She can see that Charlotte will not be letting this go any time soon. "He did."

"What did she say?"

Mary tries not to sigh again. "Well, you see, she had a choice to make. Though the princess made her whole, though she loved the prince with all her heart, she also had a duty to the people of the kingdom. Being married would put herself before the very people she worked so hard to protect. And in the end, she knew she couldn't let the love she had for one person take precedent over the whole country."

"Why?"

"Because that would be selfish and she had spent her entire life being selfless. Besides, she knew that she could never give him everything he wanted, everything she knew he needed. He'd never be truly happy with her as a wife."

"So she said no?"

"She said no."

"What happened after that?"

Mary swallows, taking a moment to blink back unfortunate tears. "The prince got angry, of course—angrier than she'd ever seen him. Both of them said things that shouldn't have been said and… the enchantress left the kingdom."

"What happened to the prince?"

"He found a princess who could give him all that the enchantress couldn't. Someone far more suited to him," Mary says sadly.

"Did the enchantress find out? What happened? Did she put a curse on them?"

"No, of course not! In fact, she went to their wedding."

"That isn't a happy ending at all!" Charlotte cries out.

"It is, in its own way. Not every happy ending involves a wedding."

"Mary Poppins?"

"Yes?"

"That story was true, wasn't it?"

"Every story has a grain of truth in it," Mary evades.

"But the enchantress—she was you."

Mary smiles cryptically. "You have an extraordinary imagination, Charlotte. Never lose it. But now I do believe it's time for you to go to sleep."

"Maybe the story's not over yet, Mary Poppins. Maybe there's still a happy ending on the way," Charlotte comments.

"Goodnight, Charlotte."

"Goodnight, Mary Poppins."

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><p><strong>I'll try to post the second chapter really soon! (Yes, there really is more!) But in the meantime, I would love to hear your thoughts!<strong>

**-Juli-**


	2. Chapter 2

**Eight reviews for one measly chapter? YOU GUYS, I LOVE YOU.**

**So I have fondly nicknamed this story The Never-Ending Story, because it just will _not _end. Yes, there is, in fact, more. Only one more chapter, thank goodness. This was supposed to be a oneshot, for goodness' sake!**

**As always, I own nothing.**

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><p>When she sees Charlotte go into her room, Mary heads downstairs, feeling more exhausted than she has in a long time. As she reaches the bottom floor, she hears the girls' father come home through the kitchen door. She takes a deep breath and composes herself.<p>

"Late night?" she asks, pushing through the door from the foyer.

He stretches and cracks his back. "You 'ave no idea."

"I left a plate of food in the oven for you."

"Bless you, Mary Poppins. 'ow are the girls?"

"I just got them to sleep. They're very interested in fairy tales."

"Mary Poppins telling a fanciful story?" he teases. "I don't buy it."

"This one might not have been so fanciful," she admits.

"Oh? I thought you said it was a fairy tale."

"There's truth in every story."

"An' where was the truth in this one?"

"The characters."

"'oo were they?"

Mary studies the kitchen tiles, then looks up through her lashes. "Us."

"Oh."

"You have a _beautiful _family, Bert. They are wonderful girls."

"They are somethin' aren't they?"

"You're very lucky."

"In some ways more'n others," he mutters.

"Oh?"

"Jeannie called today. Now that the divorce is final, she's going to America. Apparently she 'as a man 'oo wants 'er to move out there."

"Oh, Bert-"

"No, you don't 'ave to say anything."

"It's still sad," she murmurs. "I know she didn't treat you right at the end and that it's been nearly two years, but you _are _allowed to be sad. She was your wife, after all. You have a family together."

They sit in silence while he picks at his food.

"Y'know what I realized today?" he mentions.

"What?"

"By the end of the year, you'll 'ave spent almost as much time with 'attie as 'er own mother."

Mary has a certain word for flighty women like Jeannie who suddenly decide that they don't have a responsibility to their family, but it's not one that a practically perfect nanny should have in her vocabulary.

"I wish things had turned out better for you, Bert. I really do." She squeezes his hand.

"I know," he smiles. "It isn't your fault though."

She smiles back at him. "It isn't yours either."

Maybe it's just the story she was telling earlier, maybe it's his vulnerability, but in this moment, she feels exactly like she did years and years ago when she blamed him for colliding with her when really, she was the one who had been too engrossed in a book to pay attention to her direction. She feels that long-buried thought- _I could love this man_.

"Y'know, this wasn't what I 'ad in mind when I proposed to 'er."

"I don't think anyone does," she points out. "In fact, I'd be rather worried if you had."

"Want to 'ear the craziest part?"

"Alright."

"She said something, Jeannie. Before she left."

"Oh, and what was that?"

"She said she was never anything more than a temporary solution to a permanent problem."

Mary frowns. "I'm afraid I don't follow."

"She meant that I never stopped loving you."

For one deafening moment, Mary thinks her heart stops. She swallows and makes sure her face betrays nothing. "And did you?"

He runs his hands over his eyes and through his hair. "I know what I'm supposed to say, but no, I didn't. Not even for a second."

"Bert-"

"No, you listen to me, Mary Poppins. I loved my wife an' I love my girls, but-"

"Bert, please stop," she begs.

"No! That's what you wanted me to do the last time. I did an' you _left_!"

"Bert, it's different. You have a family now."

"Yes, I do," he says. "You left an' I tried to move on as best I could."

"You have a family, a beautiful family. Don't you understand? I could never have given you that. I never could have given you what you wanted! You wanted to get married and have a family and _I couldn't do that_!"

"I wanted _you_, Mary! 'owever that 'appened, whatever it took, I wanted you. I loved you, Mary. I still do."

"You got _married_!" she cries, finally airing out the one heavy weight that she's been carrying with her for almost twelve years. "You obviously didn't love me that much!"

"That's what you wanted me to do! You just said!"

"Yes, but I didn't mean it!" Mary yells, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"What? You said-"

"I _know _what I said! I know it doesn't make sense! I wanted you to have a normal life because that's what you wanted. And I knew that I couldn't give you it! But that doesn't mean I wanted anyone else to do so!"

"Mary, why- why didn't you say anything?"

"You were happy," she whispers. "I didn't want to ruin that. Not after what happened between us. Not when she could make you so much happier than I could."

"Mary, no one could make me 'appier than you."

He reaches out to touch her cheek, but she slaps his hand away. "Don't."

"Why?"

"Because I can't… we can't… we won't be happy. _You _won't be happy."

"Cor, 'ave you not been listening to a word I've said? _You _make me 'appy!"

"You only think that!"

"Stop telling me what to think or feel! I know 'ow I feel about you. It's the same way I felt about you since we met. An' no matter what you say, you can't change the fact I love you."

Mary swallows, her face settling into a neutral mask as she begins to panic. "I think, perhaps, I've overstayed my welcome."

She tries her best to ignore the heartache written all over his face when he begs, "Mary, don't go."

"I have to. You don't understand."

He waits until she's almost to the door to speak out. "No, you're right. I _don't _understand. I'll never understand 'ow you can be the bravest woman I know sometimes an' then turn around an' be cowardly enough to run away."

She whirls around, fury written all over her face. "I am _not _running away."

"Then what do you call this, huh, Mary? The second you feel any sort of emotion, the second you feel the slightest bit uncomfortable, you leave. That's running if I ever 'eard it."

"I don't expect you to understand," she says haughtily.

"Do you love me?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Easy enough question, Mary. Do you still love me?"

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

"I know what your answer is, even if you don't say it. It's written all over your face."

"Stop it, Bert."

"You can't fool me, Mary. Not again. I already lost you once. I won't make the same mistake twice."

She shakes her head. "There's more at stake here than you realize. You have children, Bert!"

"An' they love you!"

"They need stability, a mother! I'm a _nanny_, Bert, not a mother."

"No, Mary, you _choose _not to be a mother, because you're scared. But go ahead, leave. It's what you do best."

"I won't stand here and tolerate this abuse," she informs him, blinking back tears, and begins to gather her things. More desperate than she's ever seen him in her life, he crashes his lips down on hers. Her mind goes blank for a few blissful moments but then she remembers herself. She jerks away and slaps him across the face with as much strength as she can muster. "Never do that again," she bites and continues gathering her things.

"Where are you going, Mary Poppins?"

Mary and Bert stop fighting and turn to the doorway. Hattie stands there, her thumb in her mouth and her blanket in her other hand.

"Hattie!" Mary recovers first and asks, "What are you doing awake?"

"We heard you fighting," Isa explains, joining her sister.

"We _all _heard you fighting. I think the entire neighborhood did," Charlotte adds, crossing her arms. She looks at the coat in Mary's arms. "You're leaving, aren't you?" she asks flatly.

"Of course she's not leaving!" Isa cries. "She promised to come to my dance recital!"

"No, she didn't," Charlotte pouts. "She said _we'll see_."

Isa bursts into tears.

"Oh, grow up, you big baby," Charlotte snaps.

"Charlotte!" Bert scolds.

"_What_? Sooner or later she's going to have to figure out that _everybody _leaves! Might as well get used to the idea."

In that moment, Mary's heart shatters. In the near two years she's been the primary female presence in their life, she's come to love these girls more than anything in the world and to see the destruction wrought on them by their parents' divorce and mother's flight is terrible.

Isa crying has started Hattie as well. "You… you won't leave us, will you, Mary Poppins?" she sobs, holding her blanket to her mouth, muffling the sound.

Mary freezes. She wants nothing more than to promise to stay with them forever, but that would be as good as saying yes to Bert. And what if the girls' mother decided to come back? What would she do then?

She looks to Bert, hoping he might say something, but he's giving her the same expectant look as the girls.

Finally, she crosses the kitchen and kneels down in front of Hattie. "Let me tell you something," she says, catching the child's darker blue eyes with her own. "Whenever I have to leave, even if only for a short amount of time, I take just a little piece of everyone I love with me and I keep it right here." She pats her heart with a smile. "That way, I have everyone with me always."

"Will you keep us with you?" Hattie sniffles.

Tears well up in Mary's eyes. "_Especially _you three," she promises. "And if you keep a piece of me with you, then no matter where I am, no matter what I'm doing, I can never leave you. I promise you, I will never leave."

Hattie touches her own heart. "Right here?" she asks.

"Right there. And anytime you miss me if you touch your heart, you can be certain that I'm thinking of you and missing you too."

Mary looks up and sees Isa touching her heart too. Only Charlotte looks skeptical.

"Don't go, Mary Poppins!" Isa bursts out, and wraps her arms around Mary's torso.

"Please don't!" Hattie continues, her tears starting again. "I love you, Mary Poppins!"

Mary encloses both girls in her arms, fighting off those wretched pinpricks behind her eyes. "Oh, Hattie, darling, don't cry. Please don't cry," she entreats. "Isa, dry those tears immediately."

"But you're still leaving," Charlotte points out. "You don't love us at all."

It's that sentence that straightens out the muddle in Mary's head. These three girls are her best friend's children. Children she's come to love as her own daughters. Her best friend whom she's loved in every way except as her husband. She's been here far too long to write this off as a simple assignment. These people, like it or not, are her family. "Don't you _ever _say that, Charlotte Alfred," she snaps. "Don't you ever say anything like that."

"Then will you stay?" Isa wants to know.

Mary looks up from her position on the ground to Bert. His face remains impassive. "I'll have to discuss that with your father. But in any case, I shan't leave tonight. Now I believe it's time for all three of you to go back to bed."

"And you won't leave?" Hattie ascertains, her thumb firmly planted in her mouth—a habit she resorts to when nervous or upset.

"I'll be here when you wake up," Mary promises, certain that no matter what happens between her and the girls' father, Bert would never turn her out without allowing her to say goodbye.

After a little prodding, the girls all pad off to their beds. Mary watches to make sure they go up the stairs, then turns back around. She and Bert stare at each other in uncomfortable silence.

"So…" he finally tries to start. "What are you goin' to do?"

Defeat reads in the slump of her shoulders and in her face. "I don't know. This mess has me all muddled."

"Well," Bert says, his voice gentle, "What's muddlin' you?"

"I'm just… I'm not entirely sure how this is supposed to work."

"Easy," he shrugs. "My girls need a mother an' you… well, you need a family. We could be that."

"I'm a nanny, Bert!" she insists. "I don't know how to _be _a mother!"

"What about all those families you've fixed, Mary? All those kids you've looked after? You can't tell me you don't know 'ow to be a mother after all that!"

"No, I know how to _fix _mothers. It's entirely different!"

"Mary, what exactly d'you think you've been doing for the past two years?"

"Bert-"

"No, don't tell me it's different because it's not! Those girls love you an' I know you love them. Now the only question that remains to be seen is do you love me?"

"I beg your-"

"Well, do you?" he interrupts her.

She sighs and collapses into a chair at the kitchen table. "You know I do," she whispers.

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that I can't see how we could possibly make this work. There are other things to consider."

"Like what?"

"Your girls need stability, Bert. A woman who doesn't leave every few months to go stay with another family! I can't possibly give up nanny-ing. Not entirely."

"Sure, maybe you'll leave, but you'll come back! That's the stability, Mary. It's what you've been doing for two years now! They know you'll come 'ome. This'll just make it official."

"It's just not that simple!"

"An' why not?"

"Because I'm scared!" she exclaims, pushing back from the table and standing with such force that the chair rocks and nearly falls over. Then she realizes just what she's said and tries to backtrack. "I'm sorry, I don't know-"

"I'm scared too, Mar," he informs her. "But what d'you 'ave to be afraid of?"

"What if Jeannie comes back? What will you do then?"

"Then she's welcome to be in the girls' life, but I want to be with you. An' I always 'ave. What can I do to prove that to you?"

Her eyes roam his face, looking for some sort of answer, though she's not sure what. She takes a few tentative steps towards him, until she's standing right in front of him. Quietly, she places her hands on his shoulders, tilts forward, and kisses him.

For about two seconds, the kiss is just a moment of perfect stillness. And then all of the time spent apart, all of the emotions repressed, it all catches up with them and the kiss becomes heatedly passionate in a very short span of time. She wraps her arms around his neck, desperate to get him as close as humanly possible. He, in turn, holds her so tight and so close that she's forced onto her tiptoes just to keep her feet on the ground at all.

When oxygen finally becomes a necessity, they're unwilling to pull apart. She closes her eyes and rests her head on his shoulder, her face buried in the crook of his neck. He rests his chin on the top of her head, placing a kiss in her hair.

"So…" he says, "Is that a yes?"

She takes a deep shaky breath. "That is a yes."

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><p><strong>I will try to have the last chapter up and running very soon! But please still tell me what you think?<strong>

**-Juli-**


	3. Chapter 3

**The last chapter! _Finally!_**

**Sorry this took me so long. People were being difficult. Anyways, I hope you like it!**

**As always, I own absolutely nothing.**

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><p>Mary rises with the sun the next morning, fidgeting nervously with anything she can get her hands on. This is only the most defining moment of her entire life, it seems. Sure, she knows Lottie, Isa, and Hattie all love her as a nanny or a sort of temporary substitute for their mother, but that doesn't mean that they'll ever want her as a step-mother. After that thought, she could slap herself. Bert hasn't even mentioned marriage yet. She knows he loves her and that once upon a time, he did want to marry her, but now… well, everything is different now. Maybe he doesn't want to marry her, not after she turned him down the first time.<p>

"Mary Poppins, you didn't leave!" Hattie cries happily, flying down the stairs and throwing herself at Mary's legs.

Well, Mary thinks, at least she doesn't have to worry about Hattie's reaction. She knows that Hattie has become extremely attached to her. And Isa doesn't seem to mind her presence either. But Lottie is an entirely different case. It had taken her months to warm to Mary at all. She had worked so hard to convince Lottie that she had absolutely no intention of replacing her mother, and though she still has absolutely no designs on replacing Jeannie in anyone's eyes, she knows that Lottie will see it exactly that way.

"Of course not. I promised, did I not? I never make promises I don't intend to keep."

"Are you leaving today?" Charlotte asks.

Mary shakes her head.

"Are you going to stay forever?" Isa wants to know.

Hattie still hasn't let go of her legs. Mary pries her off and sits down at the kitchen table. "Well, you see, that's what your father and I want to speak to you about."

Hattie and Isa both gather around her. Charlotte stands across the table, her arms crossed. "About what?" she asks.

Mary takes a deep breath. Where is Bert? This is far more difficult than she had ever anticipated. "How would you three feel if I wasn't to leave?"

"Never, ever?" Hattie asks.

Mary chuckles. "Well, perhaps not _never_, ever. But if I were to leave, I can promise you right now that I will come back."

"Cross your heart?" The five-year-old even crosses her heart to demonstrate.

Mary smiles and leans in closer to her conspiratorially. "Cross my heart," she promises, crossing her own.

"Good morning," Bert says as he walks into the kitchen.

"Daddy!" Isa exclaims. "Mary Poppins is going to stay!"

"Oh, she is, is she? An' 'oo told you that?"

"She did."

Mary catches his eyes and gives him a small smile. "Well," Bert says, "she isn't lying. At least, if you three don't mind."

"Yay!" Hattie yells and throws herself into Mary's arms. Isa isn't far behind.

Charlotte frowns. "Is she still our nanny or…"

"Well, uh, no. No, not exactly," Bert stammers. "Y'see, Mary Poppins an' I 'ave known each other a very long time an'… well, we… I… she'd be 'ere as more'n a nanny. Sort of like a step-mother. We wouldn't be gettin' married any time soon or anything, but…"

Charlotte's jaw clenches. Her eyes cloud over and her brow furrows. Instead of responding, she stamps her foot and runs out of the room.

Bert starts to chase after her but Mary gets up. "Bert, let me. Please."

He lets her go. Mary follows Charlotte into her room and finds the eleven-year-old curled up on her bed, trying desperately not to cry. Mary's heart seizes up. "Charlotte?" she asks quietly, knocking on the door frame.

"Go away!"

"I'd like to speak to you."

"Leave me alone."

"Charlotte, please."

"No! I'm not speaking to you!"

"Don't speak then, but I'd like to talk to you."

"You've gone and ruined my entire family! I hate you!"

"You do not and I'll thank you not to verbalize such nonsense," Mary snaps. "I understand you're upset, but think about the words that are coming out of your mouth. Hate is an ugly thing you can't take back."

She sulks. "But maybe I do hate you."

"You didn't hate me yesterday," Mary points out.

"That doesn't mean I don't hate you now."

Mary sighs. "Charlotte, please talk to me."

The girl turns over and pouts at the wall. Mary waits for a bit to see if she'll do anything, but she doesn't. Finally, Mary turns to leave.

"Mary Poppins?" Charlotte whispers.

"Yes?"

"Did my mother love my father?"

Mary bites her lip. "Yes. In as much as she was able to."

"So why did she leave?" Charlotte's voice is strangled by tears.

"Sometimes, adults do things that make very little sense for absolutely no reason at all," Mary says gently. "Your mother loved your father, Charlotte. But some people are just flighty that way. As much as she loved your father, sometimes it just isn't enough."

"But… but…what about _me_?" Charlotte cries, giving in to the tears. "Why wasn't _I _enough?"

For the first time in her life, Mary is rendered entirely speechless. Having absolutely no idea what else to do, she sits down on the bed, gathers the girl up in her arms and hugs her tight.

"Why didn't she love me?" Charlotte sobs into Mary's shoulder.

"She did," Mary insists. "She _does_." And she really does mean it. She knows Jeannie loves her children, but also that she loves herself just a little more.

"Then why did she leave me?"

Mary feels the pinprick of tears behind her eyes. "I don't know, Charlotte," she admits quietly. "How _anyone_ could leave you is beyond me."

Charlotte just continues to sob and Mary holds her, rocking her back and forth until she calms down.

"I- I didn't try hard enough," Charlotte hiccups. "I should have-"

Mary pulls back and takes hold of Charlotte's shoulders, forcing her to make eye contact. "Charlotte Alfred, your mother leaving had nothing to do with you and I'll not hear anything to the contrary, do you understand?" she orders, blue eyes flashing sternly.

Charlotte swallows and wipes her nose with her sleeve. "Yes, ma'am."

Mary sighs. "Not on your _sleeve_, Charlotte!" she admonishes and pulls out a handkerchief from her pocket to hand to the girl. "You know better than that."

Charlotte blows her nose. "Maybe if I had-"

"Charlotte, what did I _just _say? Do not make me repeat myself."

"But-"

"But nothing. You are a smart, beautiful girl and your mother is a fool for not realizing what a wonderful thing she had."

"Mary?" Charlotte asks quietly.

"Yes?"

"Are you going to leave us too?"

Mary shakes her head. "No. Never for good."

After that admission, Charlotte seems to regain just a little bit of her normal attitude. "I won't call you Mother."

Mary nods. "Mary will do just fine, I should think."

Charlotte frowns in concentration as she starts to piece together everything. "Father was the prince in the story last night."

Mary nods stiffly.

"You love him a lot, don't you?"

Mary nods again.

"What about me? Do you love me? And Hattie and Isa?"

Mary freezes momentarily. She has never flat out admitted to a child that she loves them; it makes leaving far too difficult. But this is no ordinary child. She swallows. "Yes I do," she confesses. "More than you can possibly imagine."

Charlotte sniffs. "I guess I'm alright with it."

Mary smiles gently and tucks a piece of hair behind Charlotte's ear tenderly. "Thank you. I hope you know that I'm not trying to replace your mother and I never shall try."

"I think I do now."

"But I do hope you know that you _can _talk to me. About anything."

"But I don't have anything to say."

Mary laughs softly. "Maybe not now, but you're growing up so quickly, Charlotte. I just want you to know that the offer stands."

Charlotte nods a little awkwardly. "Thank you."

"Now dry those tears," Mary orders. "We don't want your father worrying, do we?"

"Mary Poppins?"

"Yes?"

"If I have to have a stepmother, I'm happy it's going to be you."

0ooo0

There's something suspicious in the air, Mary thinks as she unlocks the front door. Something is brewing in the Alfred household.

It's been about three months since Bert had kissed her. In the meantime, Mary's moved to a small hotel nearby, officially because propriety calls for it. Unofficially, it's because she's not entirely sure of her control with the man she loves right down the hallway. So she now arrives every morning before eight and leaves every night.

The really suspicious thing is the muffled giggles that accompany her swinging open the door. She glances around quickly, looking for the source, but none of the girls are in sight, so she takes a few steps inside.

"Mary Poppins!" Isa calls happily. "You're here! You're here!"

She removes her hat and coat, placing them on the hat stand. "And where else would I be, may I ask?"

Isa doesn't answer, just hands her a single red tulip and announces, "I picked this from the garden for you!"

Mary smiles and brings the flower to her nose to smell. "Thank you! It's lovely."

"I'm glad you like it!" Isa chirps.

"Where are your sisters?" Mary asks.

"I don't know!" Isa answers cheerfully, but avoids Mary's gaze.

Mary squints and kneels down, forcing the girl to look into her eyes. "You wouldn't happen to be lying to me now, would you, Isa?"

"Uh-uh," Isa denies.

"Really? Are you sure of that, Isabelle?" Mary goads.

"Lottie's in the kitchen!" she gives up.

"See? Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Isa trails her into the kitchen. Charlotte looks up from her book. "Oh! Good morning, Mary!" she grins.

"Good morning," Mary responds warily. There is no denying that there's something afoot in this house.

"This is for you," Charlotte says, shoving a white tulip into Mary's hands.

"Thank you."

"Mary Poppins!" Hattie cries happily, running into the kitchen. "You're finally here!"

Mary laughs. "I don't understand why my arrival seems to inspire such excitement today."

"Ignore her," Charlotte sighs. "Father just said something to her and now she's excitable."

"Oh?" Mary asks. "And what did your father say?"

"He said that if you wanted, you could be our mother for real!" Hattie exclaims.

There's a sort of roar in Mary's ears as she realize exactly what is happening. The first thought that manages to make its way through the mess in her head is that this was _not _the shirt or skirt that she had envisioned wearing when Bert finally proposed to her again.

Charlotte looks at her and Mary knows her face looks stunned. Charlotte laughs. "He's in the back yard. But Hattie has something for you. Father said not to open it."

Hattie produces a small velvet box and gives it to her.

Mary accepts the box, then walks out through the kitchen door into the small yard. She finds him pacing nervously and clears her throat to get his attention.

"Mary!" he jumps.

"Your girls told me I could find you here," she explains, hovering by the door.

"Well, they were right!" he replies.

"Obviously." There's a sort of awkward pause. Mary turns the box in her fingers. She looks up and smiles. "So… Your daughter handed me this."

He gives her a lopsided smile. "Well, I asked her to."

"Proposing to me through your five-year-old?" she asks, a glint in her eyes hinting at a smile.

"An' 'oo says I'm proposing?" he asks, stepping closer to her.

"Well, I _am _holding a jewelry box, Bert."

"Maybe I bought you earrings."

"And you're the kind of man who gets a girl's hopes up and then hands her earrings?" Mary challenges, inching closer. "Besides, my ears aren't pierced. You know that."

"So you're admitting you 'ave 'opes then?" he grins.

"Are you admitting your proposing?" she retorts.

He shrugs and starts to get down on one knee.

"Oh, don't do that!" she instructs and tugs him back to his feet. "We're getting too old for it."

"An' yet you look just as beautiful as the day I met ya!" he replies earnestly. She smiles and they move to the wooden bench that sits on the back porch. He takes her hand in his. "Mary, I- I know I 'aven't 'ad the best of luck with this question, but I 'ave to ask again."

She cuts him off before his speech can get too grandiose or flowery by pressing her lips to his. "Yes, Bert. Yes, I'll marry you."

"An' oo said I was asking you t' marry me?" he asks. "You didn't even let me get the question out!"

"You _were _kneeling just a few moments ago."

"That's true, I suppose."

"You suppose? It's a fact!"

"Well, maybe I 'ad to tie my shoe!" he argues.

"Bert?"

"Yes?"

"You're so busy arguing with me that you've failed to notice one very important thing."

"An' what's that?"

"I've just agreed to marry you."

His eyes light up and a slow grin spreads over his face. "So you 'ave! Say, that's wonderful!"

Mary chuckles. "I like to think so. May I open this?" she asks, holding up the box.

He takes it from her and opens it to a simple golden ring with a small diamond. Suddenly this all becomes very real to Mary and her eyes flood with tears. "'ere, Mary, don't cry!"

She takes a moment to compose herself. "I apologize," she says.

"Don't," he responds. "It's honest. An' if we're going to be married, we 'ave to be honest with each other. Mary, are you sure about this? Because if you're not, we'll wait until you are."

"Bert-"

"No, Mary, don't mind watchin' you walk away again, if you're not 'appy 'ere, but I can't 'ave you doin' that to me girls. They already 'ad one mother leave 'em an' I'd rather die'n see 'em get 'urt again."

Mary smiles at his protectiveness. "I promise I won't," she guarantees. "I just simply couldn't. I… I love them far too much to leave them."

"Thank you for being so good about them, Mary. I know it can't be easy for you, what with… everything with Jeannie."

She caresses his cheek. "It really isn't. They're delightful girls. And you made them. They're part of you. I could never hate anything you made, Bert. You know that."

He takes her hand and slides the ring onto her finger. "Then I guess it's official," he says.

"I guess so," she grins.

"Did she say yes yet, Daddy?" Hattie asks, running out through the kitchen door.

Bert grins at Mary. "That she did."

"Yay!" Hattie exclaims, running over to Mary and trying to struggle up into her lap. Mary laughs and helps the girl up. Hattie wraps her little arms around Mary's neck and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, Mary!"

Mary kisses the little girl's hair. "And I love you."

Isa and Lottie are close behind and are quick to congratulate Mary.

Charlotte looks at her with a mischievous look. "So, Mary, you never finished that story of yours. The one about the enchantress and the prince. How did it end?"

"Don't be silly," Isa tells her older sister. "Of course it ended with happily ever after!"

"That's how all stories end!" Hattie insists.

"Well, Mary? How did it end?" Charlotte asks.

"Yes, Mary," Bert grins, "'ow _did _it end?"

"Well, I can't be entirely sure," she answers, beginning to blush under the weight of all of their gazes. Her new family. "But I do believe that, as all stories should, it ended with 'they all lived happily ever after.' The end."

Mary smiles and cradles Hattie close as the girls begin to excitedly discuss wedding details. Bert wraps his arm around her waist lovingly and they listen attentively.

And, as at the end of all good stories, they all lived happily ever after.

_The End_


End file.
